Garden Talk Talk, 2016 … · Garden Talk is the monthly publication of the Master Gardeners of ......
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Garden Talk The Official Monthly Newsletter of the Master Gardeners of Davidson County Volume XXX, Issue No. 6 — June 2016
Transcript of Garden Talk Talk, 2016 … · Garden Talk is the monthly publication of the Master Gardeners of ......
Garden Talk The Official Monthly Newsletter of the Master Gardeners of Davidson County
Volume XXX, Issue No. 6 — June 2016
Executive Committee
PRESIDENT Robert [email protected]
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Paul [email protected]
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Virginia Casalone [email protected]
RECORDING SECRETARY Karen [email protected]
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY & NEWSLETTER EDITOR Jason [email protected]
TREASURER Laura [email protected]
EDUCATION CHAIRPERSON [email protected]
EVENT CHAIRPERSON [email protected]
MEMBERSHIP CHAIRPERSON Tom [email protected]
Event and Project Chairpersons
DEMONSTRATION GARDENS AT ELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL CENTER Jeanine Atkinson, Tyann Chappell &Shirley [email protected]
EXTENSION OFFICE LIAISON Judy [email protected]
GARDEN TOURS Sylvia [email protected]
HISTORIANS Joy Kosarsky & Gwen McKinney [email protected]
GRASSMERE HISTORIC FARM AT THE NASHVILLE ZOO Andrea Pruijssers & Rich Schiavi [email protected]
HARDING GARDEN AT BELLE MEADE Muff [email protected]
HISTORIC NASHVILLE CITY CEMETERY Catherine Atwell & Robert [email protected]
JUNIOR MASTER GARDENERS Maddy Berezov, Pam Swoner & Doris [email protected]
KITCHEN GARDENS AT ANDREW JACKSON’S HERMITAGE Laura Kraft & Mary [email protected]
MASTER GARDENER CLASS LIAISON Pam [email protected]
MENTORING PROGRAM Maddy [email protected]
MERCHANDISE [email protected]
MUSIC & MOLASSES FESTIVAL Lynn [email protected]
NASHVILLE LAWN & GARDEN SHOW Barbara Drake and Bob [email protected]
SEED BANK Catherine Atwell(615) 297-0600
SPEAKERS BUREAU Joan [email protected]
TENNESSEE STATE FAIR [email protected]
URBAN GARDENING FESTIVAL Justin Druckenmiller & Nancy [email protected]
VOLUNTEER SERVICE LIAISON Lois Francis, (615) [email protected]
WEBMASTERS Jason Goodrich & Laura [email protected]
UT Extension Davidson County
1417 Murfreesboro Pike, 2nd Floor P. O. Box 196300Nashville, TN 37219Tel: (615) 862-5995http://davidson.tennessee.edu
EXTENSION AGENT David [email protected]
MASTER GARDENER CLAS LIAISON Michael [email protected]
TENNESSEE MASTER GARDENER COORDINATOR Natalie Bumgarner, [email protected]
Garden Talk is the monthly publication of the Master Gardeners of Davidson County, Tennessee.
SubmissionsReaders are encouraged to submit articles and photographs for future issues to [email protected] that will be featured as space al-lows.
The deadline for submissions is the 19th of every month, includ-ing items for the forthcoming calendar.
DuesPayment of annual dues of $20 may be made to the above address, at a monthly meeting, or securely online with a debit/credit card.
NOTICE: Trade and brand names are used only for information. Tennessee Extension does not guarantee nor warrant the standard of any product mentioned; neither does it imply approval of any product to the exclusion of others which also may be suitable.
Programs in agriculture and natural resources, 4-H youth development, family and consumer sciences, and resource development. University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture and county governments cooperating. Tennessee Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment.
Cover Photo: Karen Shaw (’14) & Jason Adkins from Trevecca Urban Farm at the Urban Gardening Festival. Photo Bob Mather/MGDC
Master Gardeners of Davidson County • P. O. Box 41055 • Nashville, TN 37204-1055 www.mgofdc.org • www.facebook.com/mgofdc • www.twitter.com/mgofdc
© 2016 Master Gardeners of Davidson County All Rights Reserved
by Robert Mather, President, Class of 2000 I could not be more proud of the Master Gardeners of Davidson County for the outstanding job of planning and executing this year’s Urban Gardening Festival. In looking at the gate count, Master Gardeners, vendors and those who entered other than through the front gate, I es-timate we had almost 2,000 attend this year!
Thank you to Nancy Wilcenski and Justin Drunkenmiller for co-chairing this event. A special thanks to Jason Goodrich for his behind-the-scenes work, to Catherine Atwell for her support and advice, and to Shirley Lee and all who helped at the Demo Garden — it looks great as always! To Judy Burger and the plant sale crew as well as Lynn Ashford, you once again did a great job coordinating donations and sales this year — thank you!
I also appreciate the hard work of those from our Junior Master Gar-deners team who staffed our children’s tent, including Pattie Waller, Pam Swoner, and Maddy Berezov. To our interns who earned volunteer hours toward their certification as Master Gardeners, we’re grateful for your help at the festival, during setup and takedown. I hope you had a chance to walk around the festival and visit with the many exhibitors and vendors and listen to the wonderful presentations we had under the big tent. It was standing room only for each of our talks! What a won-derful group we had again this year. We had nothing but great com-ments from guests as they exited the festival. Mission accomplished!
I finally got my tomatoes planted and a few other plants that had been waiting until I had some time to place them in my garden. Working in the early morning hours before it gets too hot is great for the mind as well as the body.
Please be reminded that we will not meet in July. Instead, we will be taking a field trip on July 14th to Summer Celebration at the UT Gar-dens in Jackson, Tennessee. It’s time to book now for the trip and guar-antee your seat for the trip. The theme for Summer Celebration this year is “The Garden of Eatin’”. Learn more about the event and find a schedule of speakers by visiting their website.
Lastly, we are very fortunate to host the Central Region Master Garden-er Workshop at Ellington Agricultural Center on Thursday, June 30th. This all-day event includes representatives of the 13 counties in Middle Tennessee with a Master Gardener program. There will be workshops on project leadership, a plant diagnostics learning lab, a plant “CSI” walkabout, starting off strong (engaging interns), and a walkthrough of our Demonstration Garden! After lunch there will be an officers and board members session with all of the counties represented. Registra-tion is only $20 in advance and well worth learning about the Master Garden program. We will be hosting the lunch and need about 4 volun-teers to help set up and serve lunch! If you’d like to help, please contact me at [email protected] or at (615) 525-5293. I know I can count on you.
Meanwhile, take a walk and enjoy your gardens! ❧
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Mather’s Musings 3...............................................
June Meeting 4.......................................................
Garden Tours 4.......................................................
Master Gardener Recognized 4...........................
Junior Camp Items Needed 4...............................
Trevecca Urban Farm Bee Camp 4......................
Merchandise at June Meeting 4...........................
May Calendar 5.....................................................
Harding Garden at Belle Meade 6......................
Kitchen Gardens at The Hermitage 6.................
Historic Grassmere Gardens 7............................
Urban Gardening Festival Photos 7...................
Junior Master Gardener Camp 8.........................
Summer Celebration Field Trip 8........................
A Note of Thanks from Maddy Berezov —At our last monthly meeting, I gave a presen-tation on the State Master Gardener confer-ence in Knoxville that I attended. I neglected to thank the Board for supporting your Jr. Summer Camp Co-Chairs in attend-ing the conference, and more importantly, Doris Weakley. Without her urging and sup-port, your co-chairs would have missed this day long seminar on Junior Camp education to the detriment of next month’s Jr. camp.
❀ Submissions to our newsletter by members are always welcome! While there is plenty to share about our projects and programs, we always enjoy sharing sto-ries about Master Gardeners, their experiences, and their gardens.
If you would like to submit an item to the newsletter, please email [email protected].
Mather’s Musings
June 9th Monthly Meetingby Paul Martin, First Vice President, Class of 1998 Join us for food, fellowship, and fun at our monthly meeting on Thursday, June 9th at 6:30pm in the Ed Jones Auditorium on the campus of Elling-ton Agricultural Center!
Our program for the evening will be presented by Lauren Bailey who works with Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program (RAAP), an initiative of the Center for Refugees Immigrants of Tennessee. Established in 2013, RAAP aims to address the barriers to garden access and garden education for recently arrived refugees. Now in its third season, RAAP has grown to serve over 50 families at four garden sites. She will be sharing details about the program and ways in which others can become involved.
In support of the effort to recruit and grow our 2016 membership (numeri-cally and around the waist), I'm using the powers vested in me to imple-ment a Potluck Improvement Program (P.I.P.) for our monthly meetings!
Now, there is NOTHING wrong with our monthly monthly potluck, but I want to recognize those who are making and sharing their special culi-nary talents/efforts at our monthly MGDC Feast. Who knows, maybe a little competition will make all things better for everyone? Maybe this will help attract (and retain) new members through good food and fellowship??
Introducing the MGDC Silver Spoon Award! I plan to award two hand-crafted silver plated trophies each month: One for the Best Savory Dish and another for the Best Sweet Dish. To enter the contest, just bring your best recipe/dish and label it with the name of your dish.
Judging will be simple: If I pick your dish, you win! I've hand forged enough trophies for 2016 (at no cost to our group) and will start awarding at the June potluck. I only ask that Silver Spoon winners submit their recipes for the newsletter.
Of course, I realize that MOST of our members come to our monthly meet-ings straight from work, tired, fighting traffic, etc., and bringing home-made food may not be feasible. That’s okay, and why P.I.P. Potluck Eti-quette states “always bring a little more than you plan to eat…to cover guests and those who don't/can't bring”.
Please bear in mind, the P.I.P is NOT meant to shame anyone who may be unable to contribute to the potluck or prepare a homemade dish — we all do the best we can. We simply want to recognize and celebrate the food our members bless us with each month.
One last piece of Potluck Etiquette — “If you cannot help setup, please help cleanup when you’re able”. Many hands make short work.
Meanwhile, get cookin’ and I look forward to seeing you at the June meet-ing! Cheers! ❧
Want to Host a Garden Tour?by Sylvia Wahl, Class of 2003 We’re hoping to host several more garden tours this season and I’m calling on our Master Gardeners to consider opening your gardens for your fellow members this year! If you’d like to host a tour of your garden to share your hard work with fellow Master Gardeners, please contact me at [email protected] or at (615) 227-0633. ❧
Master Gardener RecognizedCongratulations to Master Gardener Pattie Waller (2004) who was recently named this years’s winner of the Catherine van Eys Friend of Cheekwood Award. This award, established by friends of Catherine, a devoted Cheekwood volunteer, is presented each year to an individ-ual exemplifying her extraordinary volunteer spirit. Pattie contributed more than 351 hours of service. Well done, Pattie! ❧
Junior Camp Items NeededJunior Master Gardener Camp needs baby food jars as well as supplies for use in the cre-ation of fairy garden. If you have any that you might be willing to donate for this year’s camp, please contact Pam Swoner at [email protected] or (615) 397-5114. ❧
Trevecca Urban Farm to Host Bee Camp in JulyFrom July 18-22, Trevecca Urban Farm will host a Bee Camp for youth grades 5 to 9. The camp will be held from 7:30am-12:30pm daily.
Children will learn about bee-havior, how to build and setup bee hives, how to keep bees, and how to harvest honey. The cost for the camp is $150. Lunch and a t-shirt are provided.
Trevecca Urban Farm will offer needs-based scholarships and no child will be turned away for financial reasons.
To register your child, please visit their website at www.trevecca.edu/urbanfarm. For questions, please contact [email protected]. ❧
Merchandise at June MeetingOur 30th Anniversary Cookbooks are now in and will be available for purchase at our June monthly meeting! Once you see them, you’ll definitely be impressed — so pick up a copy for yourself and consider them as gifts for the holi-days. Cookbooks are $15 each.
Also, we have replenished our supply of t-shirts and have restocked on sizes that were sold-out during our last meeting. All t-shirt sizes are $10 each. ❧
✿
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Remember to check the calendar for new events and activities at our www.mgofdc.org website. You'll also find garden project work days, work-shops, and more — so bookmark it and check back often!Be certain to also follow us on Facebook where we try to post last minute items we learn about at www.facebook.com/mgofdc.
1Belle Meade, 8:30am-11amGrassmere, 9am-12pm
2 3 4Demo Garden, 9am-12pmHermitage, 8am-11amGrassmere, 9am-12pm
5 6Grassmere, 8am-12pm
7Demo Garden, 9am-12pm
8Meet Me at the Market, Nash-ville Farmers' Market, 10am-2pmBelle Meade, 8:30am-11amGrassmere, 8am-12pm
9Monthly Meeting Ed Jones Audito-rium, Ellington Ag Center, 6:30pm
10 11Demo Garden, 9am-12pmHermitage, 8am-11amGrassmere, 9am-12pm
12 13Grassmere, 8am-12pm
14Demo Garden, 9am-12pm
15Belle Meade, 8:30am-11amGrassmere, 8am-12pm
16 17 18Demo Garden, 9am-12pmHermitage, 8am-11amGrassmere, 9am-12pm
19 20Grassmere, 8am-12pm
21Demo Garden, 9am-12pm
22Belle Meade, 8:30am-11amGrassmere, 8am-12pm
23 24 25Demo Garden, 9am-12pmHermitage, 8am-11amGrassmere, 9am-12pm
26 27Grassmere, 8am-12pm
28Demo Garden, 9am-12pm
29Belle Meade, 8:30am-11amGrassmere, 8am-12pm
30 Don't forget: There will be no monthly meeting in July!
June 2016
Harding Garden at Belle Meadeby Mariwyn Evans, Class of 2011
It’s Tee Pee time at Belle Meade. As the Scarlet Runner and Kentucky Wonder beans begin their summer climb to the sun, the Weedin’ Women are constructing tee pees of bamboo and trellises of poles to hold up the bounty. The Scarlet Run-ners, which in some years have pulled down a bamboo trellis, get a special heavy-duty frame made of stakes and screws. We found the design in Tennessee Gardener. With the trellis-es in place, we may next turn our hands to a 45-degree frame for cucumbers and squash. Our hope is getting the vines off the ground will aid air circulation and reduce the mildew that has plagued us in recent years.
The new Herb Garden near the Plantation’s winery is also be-ginning to fill in. Hydrangeas, mint, and a variety of culinary herbs offer an instant lesson for visitors to Belle Meade’s cook-ing demonstrations.
Our next job — other than weeding, of course — is to add identification labeling. Muff Cline (’07) has already prepared the zinc labels so we just have to match the plant to the name. Educational and fun! Join us any Wednesday, weather permitting, at 8:30am or just stop by and enjoy the glories of a garden in spring. ❧
Kitchen Gardens at The Hermitageby Laura Kraft, Class of 2010
We're excited to see the rewards of the 'rework' of the gardens: we've been busy taking the four quadrants of the Veggie Garden and making rectangular beds for us to work in. We've also concentrated on amending soil. It is really showing: the spring plants love their growing conditions as well the beautiful May weather! Beets, four varieties of tomatoes, basil, peas, sweet potatoes, fava beans and peanuts are just a few of the stars of the show!
The herb garden has really flourished this year after rework-ing, bricking and replanting over the past 3 seasons. The café garden has been spruced up and has new mulch to greet our guests.
Thanks to Michael Grantham, gardens manager, and his team for bringing us loads of mulch for the new café garden and veggie gardens’ paths, tilling the veggie garden, and edging our gardens. We’re excited about how wonderful the gardens are looking.
Our volunteers were busy transplanting seedlings that we do-nated for the Urban Gardening Festival. We’re so glad the weather held off for the Fest! And we’d also like to congratu-late Carol Freund-Taylor (’16) for completing her intern hours and attaining her certification!
Our main workdays are Saturdays, now starting at 8am.
Join in the fun or just come visit — share your knowledge of heirloom gardening or learn more about it.
Contact Laura Kraft or Mary Langford for details by emailing us at [email protected].
We look forward to growing with you! ❧
Rain didn’t stop us from gathering plants to donate for the Urban Gardening Festival (l to r): Laura Kraft, Clif Gunter, Carol Freund-Taylor, Donna Haggitt, and Phil Arnold. Selfie: Laura Kraft/MGDC
Phil Arnold and Mary Langford preparing planting sections in the newly revamped garden quads. Photo: Laura Kraft/MGDC
The trellis crew preparing to tackle their building challenge (l to r): Patty Ghertner, Joy Kosarsky, Jill Meese, Barbara Drake, & Nancy West. Photo: Judy Wright/MGDC
A finished trellis in the Harding Garden. Photo: Judy Wright/MGDC
Historic Grassmere Gardenby Chuck Vehorn, Class of 2014The gardens contain three terraces: flowers, vegetables, and fruits. One of the three terraces has been undergoing an ex-tensive renovation. The flower garden had become overgrown with daylilies and daffodils to the extent that some clumps were not blooming well due to overcrowding. In coordination with Zoo officials, we have redesigned parts of the flower gar-den to make it more inviting, with a larger variety of flowers and a semicircular pathway around the Pet Cemetery, which would allow visitors to get a closer look at some of the flow-ers.
We had quite an adventure in carving out this semicircular pathway. In the process, we uncovered several large stepping stones, which now make a boundary for part of the new path-way, along with some very determined daylily clumps that had buried their tubers deeply into the soil. Carolyn Turner (’97), Kathryn Firsching (’14), and I have taken on the joint responsi-bility for the garden upgrade, but we have had eager help from other Master Gardeners and Zoo volunteers who are pe-riodically assigned to the gardens by the Zoo’s Volunteer Pro-gram Manager. It is safe to say that all of Grassmere’s gardens would not be in their current state of readiness without the assistance of the much appreciated Zoo volunteers.
Some of the new flowers, grown from seed, include Cleome, nasturtium, gaura, cosmos, Gaillardia (blanket flowers), along with such standards as marigold and Zinnia. These flowers have been placed in cleared areas on either side of the Pet Cemetery, but inside the semicircular path. Once the flowers start to bloom, we will provide a picture for a future news-letter. To volunteer or learn more, contact our “Zoo Crew” at [email protected]. ❧
The new pathway begin-ning to take shape. Photo: Chuck Vehorn/MGDC
Nashville A Rocha, one of our many exhibitors, visiting with attendees. Photo: Bob Mather/MGDC
The Sustainable Mountain Agricultural Center not only brought native Appalachian seeds but an amaz-ing selection of fresh tomatoes grown by students at
Tennessee Tech. Photo: Bob Mather/MGDC
Joan Clayton-Davis delivering a presentation during the Urban Gardening Festival to a packed tent. Photo: Bob Mather/MGDC
The Tennessee Native Plant Soci-ety enjoying their first booth at the Urban Gardening Festival. Photo: Bob Mather/MGDC
Master Gardeners of Davidson County P.O. Box 41055Nashville, TN 37204-1055www.mgofdc.org
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Doris Weakley, Class of 1999If you have children age 9 to 14, or perhaps know someone who does, I encourage you to enroll them in our 2016 Junior Master Gardener Camp!
Filled with classroom and practical hands-on learning that adapts varied gardening subjects, methods and techniques, our week-long camp will be held June 13th-17th at the UT Extension Central Region administration building on the cam-pus of Ellington Agricultural Center, 5201 Marchant Dr, Nash-ville, TN 37211. The camp is held 9am to 3pm daily.
The camp is staffed by UT Extension agents and certified Mas-ter Gardener volunteers. Snacks and beverages are providing during morning and afternoon breaks. Lunch is not provided and campers should bring a lunch each day. Appropriate clothing should be worn by campers for outdoor activities and walking tours.
Enrollment is limited to 25 campers and the cost per camper is $50. Complete and return our Junior Camp Registration Form, available at our website, with payment to UT Extension, P.O. Box 196300, Nashville, TN 37219.
Please note that registration is not considered complete un-less accompanied by the registration fee. Applications are processed on a first come, first served basis by UT Extension.
If you have yet signed-up to volunteer for the camp, we’d love to have you! Please express your interest to either myself, Maddy Berezov, or Pam Swoner by emailing us at [email protected] or call me at (615) 353-1816! ❧
Field Trip to Summer Celebrationby Jason Goodrich, Corresponding Secretary, Class of 2013On Thursday, July 14th, we will be returning to Summer Cel-ebration in Jackson, Tennessee for our next field trip by char-ter bus.
The per person cost for this trip is $28 and does not include the $5 admission.
Registration is now open, is on a first come, first seated basis, and are not considered complete until payment is received.
To register online, visit our Field Trip Registration website. If you prefer, you may also register by mail or at the June monthly meeting for the trip. Registrations may be cancelled within 14 days of the trip for a 100% refund. The trip will be held rain or shine.
Please remember that these trips are also open to the Master Gardener associations and local plant societies in surrounding counties, so be sure to register soon to get your seat! ❧
Join us at our June meeting on Thursday, June 9th at 6:30pm in the Ed Jones Auditorium at Ellington Agricultural Center!
